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The Danish Maersk has invested in WasteFuel, a California-based company focused on converting agricultural and municipal waste into fuel, in order to “develop the production of environmentally friendly bio-methanol in the Americas and Asia.”
In an announcement Wednesday, the world’s largest container transport company explained that its investment would allow WasteFuel to develop biorefineries and “produce sustainable fuels from stranded waste that would otherwise degrade.”
The company’s investment is being made through its corporate venture arm, Maersk Growth. Its value was not revealed in the ad. Morten Bo Christiansen, head of decarbonization at Maersk, will join the WasteFuel board as part of the deal.
“We know that getting the right amount of green fuel for our methanol-powered ships will be very difficult, as it requires a significant increase in production globally,” he said.
Collaboration and partnerships were “keys to scaling up the production and distribution of sustainable fuels,” Christiansen said.
In February it was announced that private aviation firm NetJets, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had “made a major investment” in WasteFuel.
In a statement at the time, NetJets said it had pledged to buy a minimum of 100 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel from WasteFuel over the next 10 years.
The idea of reusing waste for other uses is not new. In 2014, for example, a “Bio-Bus” powered by sewers, food waste and other commercial liquid waste was used to transport passengers between Bristol Airport and the city of Bath in the south-west of England. .
Elsewhere in Reading, a large city in west London, there is a fleet of more than 58 natural gas buses that use biomethane from livestock manure and food waste.
The U.S. Department of Energy has described the waste as “a significant and underutilized set of raw materials for the generation of renewable fuels and products.”
The environmental footprint of shipping is significant. In 2019, international shipping, a crucial gear in the global economy, was responsible for approximately 2% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to the International Energy Agency.
With major economies around the world trying to reduce emissions to achieve net zero targets, the maritime sector will have to find new ways to reduce emissions from its operations.
Methanol appears to be crucial to Maersk’s plans in the future. Last month, the company said it had secured a supply of “green” e-methanol for what it described as “the world’s first carbon-neutral container ship.”
August also saw Maersk announce that it was ordering eight large, ocean-going ships capable of operating on what it called “carbon-neutral methanol.”